All candidates play ethnic voting game

Re Liberals scramble after candidate quits race, Jan. 17 Pity that Karen Wang didn’t leave the issue of ethnic voting to her team. The issue of ethnic voting and candidates is something all representatives in our diverse nation cater to, despite the chest beating.

How else can we have diversity if not only the candidates but their supporters work to have them elected, so as to lend credence to their concerns?

That isn’t to say other ethnic representatives can’t speak to the community’s issues but it’s the step to a deeper democracy of having new faces into politics.

Even leaders know now to go about choosing a diverse group of candidates who will garner a larger slice of the ethnic group population or, at the very least, support their issues — such as candidates who support Israel or candidates who support a labour agenda.

Wang’s mistake was to openly identify NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh as the unwanted other, instead of speaking to issues of the population she hopes to represent. Lesson learned. J. Seth, Toronto

Karen Wang does not deserve to run against Jagmeet Singh for one reason: She belaboured the obvious and, as a consequence, unleashed an avalanche of sanctimonious outrage.

Is there any doubt that she is of Chinese heritage and that Singh is of Indian heritage? Was there any doubt that both candidates were trying to exploit ethic votes in the riding?

Would Singh dare to run in a predominantly Caucasian riding, where voters might take exception to his hesitation to denounce Sikh extremists and sympathizers who consider the architect of the Air India bombing a martyr?

The entire byelection was playing to ethnic allegiances from the outset and the outrage about Wang’s superfluous comment is pure hypocrisy.

Kope Inokai, Toronto